Portuguese winger Christiano Ronaldo is a world famous soccer superstar, with many considering him to be the best player in the world. Thus, even small gestures done by him can have immense implications even when he is off the field.
At a press conference prior to his team’s game with Hungary at Euro 2020 being played at present in Europe, Ronaldo spotted two bottles of Coca Cola on the table in front of him and decided to remove them from the camera angle altogether.
At the same time Ronaldo, who even at the age of 36 is famous for taking care of his body in the best possible manner, urged people to ‘drink water’ instead.
Even though Coca-Cola is one of the sponsors of Euro 2020, Ronaldo had no problem in putting a stern message across against drinking sweet beverages and in favor of healthy drinks. The superstar could earn fortunes from Coca Cola and other food companies but prefers not to promote anything deemed unhealthy and refuses even to give his young children chocolate.
The response from the public was swift, with a whopping 4 billion dollars wiped off the value of Coca Cola’s stock within hours. Spanish outlet Marca reported that the share price of the company before and after the Portuguese icon’s decision to move the bottles to one side has led to billions of dollars in losses for the company.
Marca claim that Coca-Cola went from being worth $242 billion to $238 billion – a “brutal 1.6% drop” for the company on the stock market.
Coca-Cola decided to respond laconically after Ronaldo’s act, saying: “everyone is entitled to their drink preferences” as people have different “tastes and needs”.
A spokesperson for the Euro 2020 tournament also shared his views on the matter by saying: “Players are offered water, alongside Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, on arrival at our press conferences.”
(Vosizneias).